Board meetings are essential to the success of any business regardless of whether they serve as an opportunity to make strategic decisions or as a framework for governance. However regardless of their importance, the effectiveness of board meetings is often restricted by the way they’re managed.
A strategic approach is essential to ensure a successful board meeting. This will ensure that every meeting has a positive energy and can lead to meaningful discussions. A dynamic agenda that prioritizes the most important issues and allocates enough time to each topic of discussion is a good place to begin.
In addition to setting clear objectives for the meeting, ensuring that the board members are prepared and are provided with materials for the meeting is a crucial aspect to making board meetings more productive. Lastly, preparing accurate and concise meeting minutes which document the discussion and decision while also including actions items and timelines is an essential element to a successful board meeting.
Limiting the amount of time spent on reports and “have to’s” will allow for more effective and meaningful discussion time. As a general rule you https://www.boardroomcommunity.com/full-guide-to-better-board-meetings/ should not spend more than 25% of the meeting time focusing on routine issues and reporting.
Getting sidetracked by new discussions that don’t have an immediate impact on the company’s goals could waste the time of the board and eat into the amount of time available for strategic thinking and planning. A lot of boards have a parking spot at the end of their agenda to shift any non-priority issues that require discussion into subsequent meetings.